Pepperell Resident Wins Snowshoe Raffle

Congratulations to Fred Farmer of Pepperell, the winner of the NRWA's 40th Anniversary Raffle for a pair of snowshoes! Thank you to all of you who participated in the four anniversary raffles held in 2009. And a special thanks to Pedal Power Bike & Ski of Acton for the donation of the bicycle and showshoes prizes.

NRWA Teaches Elementary Students about Invasive Plants

During the 2009-10 school year, Nashua River Watershed Association (NRWA) is teaching fifth graders, and their teachers, at the TJ Passios School in Lunenburg about invasive plant species. Under a grant awarded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, students have the opportunity to learn about balanced ecosystems and the ways in which invasive plants disrupt those ecosystems. The lessons are designed to involve field work and application of the scientific method to study the problem at hand. Along with science concepts, students will also learn math concepts such as graphing of their field data and will eventually develop an English Language Arts research project based on their study.

Fifth grade teachers from the TJ Passios School with NRWA's Rick Muehlke.

The project began in August, when NRWA Environmental Education Director, Mary Marro, and NRWA Land Programs Assistant, Rick Muehlke, led a field trip and training day for all of the fifth grade teaching staff. Teachers took a field trip to Horse Meadow, a wetlands nearby to the school. Here NRWA has set up plots to study various ways to eradicate purple loosestrife. The teachers had an opportunity to participate in the hands-on science lessons that they and the NRWA will be sharing with students during the year. Invasive plants in North Cemetery abutting Horse Meadow and in the schoolyard itself were also identified and discussed.

In the fall, over 100 fifth graders took a field trip to Horse Meadow and the adjoining cemetery. They studied the control test plots, began to learn how to identify and quantify various invasives, and they were introduced to four different methods to control loosestrife. Over the course of the year, they will visit the site once more and also participate in two field trips in the schoolyard. Students will follow scientific methodology to track and record the effect of the four various loosestrife control methods. By spring, they will be critically analyzing their data and formulating a proposal for future stewardship of the meadow, cemetery, and their own schoolyards.

Students in the fifth grade collecting data.

“The goal is to not only educate students about invasive plants and excite them about science,” states Mary Marro, “but also to make students more familiar with local ecosystems and the various issues that can affect those ecosystems. Ultimately, we hope that the students will develop a sense of stewardship about their community that will lead them to be better decision makers in the future.”

The NRWA’s “Service Learning in Lunenburg, MA: Fifth Graders Use Math, Science, and English Language Arts While Investigating Different Ways to Address Invasive Species” project is funded by an Environmental Education Grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. If you would like to learn more about this project, or other NRWA environmental education programs for youth, please contact Mary Marro, NRWA Environmental Education Director, at (978) 448-0299, or email Mary Marro.

Drew Casey, NRWA Development Director
November 27, 2009

The Nashua River Watershed Association is deeply saddened by the passing of Drew Casey, NRWA’s Development Director. His passion touched many during the time he worked with the Association and he will be greatly missed. For Drew’s obituary.